Toe or heel stiffener.



F. SCHWARTZ.

TOE 0R HEEL STIFFENER.

APPLICATION FILED APR. II. I9I5.

Patented Feb.13,1917.

I @AT `narranT4ernten,/

FRANK SCHWARTZ, for wINTHnoE, MASSACHUSETTS, Assrenon To UNITED SHoE MACHINERY COMPANY, or rATEnSoN, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION or NEW.

JERSEY..

' VToE 0E HEEL STIEEENER'.

Specicatiters Patent. Patented Feb. 1&3, 191% I' Original application led January 26, I1915, Serial-1go. 4,466. Divided and this application filed April 17,

' e 1915. Serial No. 22,116.4

To ally/whm 'it may concer/1,."v

Be it known that. I, FRANK SeHWARTz, a citizen of the United States, residing at Winthrop, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Toe or Heel Stideners, of

which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a sp'ecication, ,like reference chanacters on the drawings indicating like parts'in the' several figures. y

This invention relates to st i'eners for boots and shoes; and the present application is a division of co-pendingfapplication Serial No. 4466.

- It has been common hitherto in the manufacture of-boots, and shoes either to apply a stifl'enin v substance such as box-toe gum in a fliqui. or plastic state to the box-toe blank when the upper is assembled-or to assemble with the upper a normally stiI box-toe blank which is capable of 4being .softened by heat. In the irstl case the up:

per is immediately pulled over `and lasted while in the Second case the'stifl' blank is steamed before each operation so as to soften i itl temporarily. In either case,` after the lapse of ,a certain amount of time the boxtoe becomes hard. The use of box-toe gum is objectionable afor manyreasons and has been supplanted to a considerable extent by the normally 'stid blank which is adapted yto besoftened by heat. There' are, however,

" serious objections totheusefof this. nor-V mally-Stiffblank.y It is desirable to `fasten -this blank to the upper by stitches, but because of the stiffness of the blank the needles of the sewing machine, by which `the stitching is done, are frequently bent or broken. .Again this prepared blank, as has "been stated, requires two `steamings one before the pulling-over operation 'and one before the lasting operationy since it becomes sti very rapidly whenl removed from the lsteaming apparatus. lMoreover a blank of this kind is bulky L and this, together with its quality ofstifening quickly, has an injurious effectV Von the lasting operation so that it is diicult One feature of the present invention comprises a suitably shaped blank ofsheet material carryingparticles -of a stifeningmaterial which is lnormally hard butl may be L softened by the application of heat.

This and otherfeatures of the invention willy be` described in connection with an illus-4 trative article and* pointed out in the appended claims.

- Referrlng nowto the accompanying drawf ing,-

Figure 1 is a perspectiveof ya stiflener which the present invention isv embodied,

one of the plies of fabric having been bent back to show the powdered or granulated stiii'ening material. v Fig. 2 is a section of the fore part of a shoe in which the stiffener has been embodied.

In the illustrative, rembodiment of the inventionf the box-toe blank indicated as a whole at 1 is made of two pieces or plies of.

fabric 2, 3, and between the plies is a layer or coating 5'of a powdered or granulated material, such for example as shellac,.the i melting/point of which is comparatively lowj lso that the stidening material may be melted or softened by aI heat which will have n0 injurious effect upon the leather.v

In order tohold the powdered y0r granulated shellacl securely, an adhesive of some sort may be used; and in the illustrative embodiment of the invention the fabric of the box-toe blank is the .well-known backing cloth which is commonly .used to strengthen the uppers of. boots and shoes, thisibacking clothconsisting of a piece of fabric having on one facexa coating of adhesive containing fgutta-percha. 4To prepare a box-toe blank a suitable amount of powdered vor granulated shellac is dusted or sprinkled on the coated side of a sheet of'thewbacking cloth and .then a second sheet is pressed upon the after which theblank/is died out. i, 'In order ,to prevent the melted or ysoftened shellac from penetrating the lining of the 'shoe jduring the subsequent lheating operation a sheet of paper 12 or otherimpervious substancemay be applied vto the box-toe blank on oneor both sides.

In the manufacture of ashoe the-blank first sheet with the 'coated sides together able manner, as, .for example, by the row of stitches, one of whichis shown at 7 which unites the tip 10 to the vam The upper is then assembled on the last and the pulling-over and lasting operations carried out while the blank is in its normal condition ,and the stiffening 'material'still in its pow-x The dered or granulated or broken'state. blank at this time is still flexible. In order to complete the formation of the box-toe and set the blank the forward portion of the lasted shoe is placed in a suitable heating apparatus such, for example, as that shown in British Patent No. 13155 of 1910 and subjected to a heat suiiicient to soften Vor melt the shellac wherebyy the I'particles of shellac are 'caused to run together and to permeate the fabric of the box-toe blank so that when the shellae hardens a nished box-toe is produced. v

When the upper is lasted the toe of the i upper, together with the vbox-toe blank, is

Y last may be pulled at once.

drawn tightly about the toe of the last, the leather being put under considerable tension. "Consequently if there are any bunches due to the presence of'toolmuch powdered or granulated shellac at any points the strain lof the leather smooths out such bunches when the shellac softens or melts, so that the resulting box-toe is smooth and conforms to the form ofthe toe of the last.

I have found that by subjecting the toe^ of the shoe for approximately an hour to a temperature of between 210 and 250 F. a box-toe for the making of which two pieces of backing cloth and a layer of powdered shellac are used, is hard when taken out of the heating apparatus so that if desired the I have also found that this hardness is permanent to the extent that further heat for the same time at the same temperature will not appreciably affect it. In any event, however, softened shellac when removed from a temperature offrom 210o to 250 to thel ordinary temperature of a shoe factory will harden in a few minutes. The important eect of thisheating operation is to soften and amalv g gamate the shellac and cause itto permeate the fabric so that whereas before the heating it is in the form of separated masses or particles after the heating it forms a more or less continuous film which serves to give v permanent form to the toe of the shoe.

Throughout the specification the stiening material referred'to has been powdered yor granulated shellac. v This has been done, however, to promote brevity. Any suitable substance may be used which will permit the blank to bepiexible normally `so as not to interfere #with the lasting operation and at the same time may be subsequently melted or .softened so as to complete the formation of the box. And whether the stiii'ening mai terial is strictly in powdered or granulated ble.

For example, instead of being stitched to the upper it may be cemented or merely laid in. And although the article has been described as a box-toe blank and the method as one lconsisting ofI a suitably shaped blank comprising a piece of fabric coated with separatedparticles of a stifening material which is normally hard but may be. softened by the application of heat,` of a degree insufficient to injure the shoe part.

2. A stiffener for parts of boots and lshoes consisting of a suitably shaped blank comprising a piece of fabric, a coating of adhesive substance and a layer of powdered o r granulated stifening material which is normally hard but may be softened by the application of heat, of'a degree insufficient to injure the shoe part.

3. A stiflener for parts of boots and shoes consisting of a suitably shaped blank comprising two pieces of fabric and a layer of powdered or granulated stifening material held between them, said material being capable of being fused by a degree of heatinsufiicient to injure the shoe part.

4. A-stiffener for parts of boots and shoes consisting of a suitably shaped blank comprising a piece of fabric and astiffening material in solid broken state carried thereby, said material being capable of being fused by a degree of heat insufficient to injure the shoe part.

- 5. A stifener for parts of boots or shoes consisting of a suitably shaped normally .iexible blank comprising a piece of fabric consisting of a suitably shaped blank of 130 amaai/e sheet material, an adhesive substance thereon, and separated particles of a stiiening material held in place by said adhesive substance, said stiening material being capable of being softened by a degree of heat in suiicient to injure the shoe part.

8. A stifener for parts of boots and shoes 4 consisting of a suitably shaped blank comprising a piece of sheet material, and a stiening material in solid, broken state carried thereby, said stiffening material being capable of being softened by a degree of heat insufficient to injure the shoe part.

9. A stiener for parts of boots and'shoes consisting of a suitably shaped blank comprising a piece of fabric, a stieningtmaterial in solid, broken state carried thereby, said material being capable of being softened by a degree of heat insuliicient to iinjure the shoe part, anda piece of sheet material impervious to the softened stiening material.

1n testimony whereof lhavev signed my name to this speciication.

'FRANK SCHWARTZ. 

